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> It was just boring, and I agreed with a philosopher (sorry can't remember which) that when you take a photo, you miss the authentic moment because you're busy

by dilemma 11y ago

> It was just boring, and I agreed with a philosopher (sorry can't remember which) that when you take a photo, you miss the authentic moment because you're busy manufacturing one. Susan Sontag. It's a pessimistic sentiment that is borne out of insecurity and self-centeredness ("I know what's best for everyone else"), and has nothing to do with the world outside the ego.

chimeracoder 11y ago
> Susan Sontag. It's a pessimistic sentiment that is borne out of insecurity and self-centeredness ("I know what's best for everyone else"), and has nothing to do with the world outside the ego. That's a pretty terrible summary of Sontag's thesis. Maybe that's what you genuinely took away from her essay, but I can assure you there's a lot more of value in On Photography than that. It's also a rather dismissive way of taking about perhaps the most famous photographers and filmmaker of the early postmodern era, whose partner also was (and still is) an equally famous photographer. You don't have to like Sontag, or even agree with her, but you can give her a bit more credit than dismissing everything she wrote as having "nothing to do with the world outside of her ego".
- dilemma 11y ago
  It's not a summary of her thesis, but where it's coming from. Someone else posted this and it does a better job than I do: https://xkcd.com/1314/ https://xkcd.com/1314/
  - jamespo 11y ago
    Taking a picture of a sunset is very nice, the distraction of 100 lit up screens filming a full gig video from 100 feet back that will never be watched is something else.
    - dagw 11y ago
      Then don't stand there. The world is a big place, if you find yourself surrounded by 100 lit up screens and you would rather not, take a few steps to the side.
      - Starwatcher2001 11y ago
        Stepping to the side isn't practical when you've paid money for a seat to see a band, and can't actually see for the sea of cameras and phones.
junko 11y ago
I remember it was male, Japanese and non-photographer. But hey, it's not a too strange concept :)
dang 11y ago
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11519182 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11519182 and marked it off-topic.

by dilemma 11y ago

chimeracoder 11y ago

> Susan Sontag. It's a pessimistic sentiment that is borne out of insecurity and self-centeredness ("I know what's best for everyone else"), and has nothing to do with the world outside the ego. That's a pretty terrible summary of Sontag's thesis. Maybe that's what you genuinely took away from her essay, but I can assure you there's a lot more of value in On Photography than that. It's also a rather dismissive way of taking about perhaps the most famous photographers and filmmaker of the early postmodern era, whose partner also was (and still is) an equally famous photographer. You don't have to like Sontag, or even agree with her, but you can give her a bit more credit than dismissing everything she wrote as having "nothing to do with the world outside of her ego".

dilemma 11y ago
It's not a summary of her thesis, but where it's coming from. Someone else posted this and it does a better job than I do: https://xkcd.com/1314/ https://xkcd.com/1314/
- jamespo 11y ago
  Taking a picture of a sunset is very nice, the distraction of 100 lit up screens filming a full gig video from 100 feet back that will never be watched is something else.
  - dagw 11y ago
    Then don't stand there. The world is a big place, if you find yourself surrounded by 100 lit up screens and you would rather not, take a few steps to the side.
    - Starwatcher2001 11y ago
      Stepping to the side isn't practical when you've paid money for a seat to see a band, and can't actually see for the sea of cameras and phones.

junko 11y ago

I remember it was male, Japanese and non-photographer. But hey, it's not a too strange concept :)

dang 11y ago

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11519182 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11519182 and marked it off-topic.